4-year-old Nawaz loses the battle for his life at DJ Halli

4-year-old Nawaz passed away from pneumonia. Afflicted with cerebral palsy, he was also severely malnourished. The responsibility for his death could very well fall on the hospital that refused to treat him.

On February 27th 2015, yet another malnourished child from DJ Halli passed away due to pneumonia compounded by malnutrition and cerebral palsy. Nawaz died at the age of 4 years and 4 months, weighing only 9.8 kg. His pneumonia was fatal because he didn’t receive treatment at the local primary health centre (PHC). Known as the Maidan Hospital’ at DJ Halli, this primary health centre and maternity home is infamous locally for turning away pregnant mothers who are on the verge of delivery, if they do not pay extra money. People typically don’t even attempt to use the centre for other ailments because of the extreme callousness with which patients are treated.

Nawaz’ mother, Naseema and brother, Tausif. Pic: Movement for Basic Rights DJ Halli

Nawaz’s mother, Naseema brought him to the primary health centre at noon on February 27th. She waited for two and a half hours for treatment. The nurses on duty refused to administer suction to Nawaz, with one of them, Ms Shoba saying that she was scared to do it, and asked Nawaz’s older brother Tousif to ‘be the doctor’ and do it himself. Naseema asks what nurses and doctors are trained and paid for, if they are afraid of providing basic medical care, and if instead of attending to patients, they spend all their time talking on the phone. Furthermore, there was no electricity and despite requests from Tippu, another resident of DJ Halli, the staff refused to turn on the generator to run the aspirator for Nawaz, saying they would only do so in an emergency. The fact that Nawaz died shortly after they refused treatment, around 3 pm, shows that there could be no greater emergency, and yet the hospital refused to recognise it.

Today on February 28th, a group of local residents and supporters, went to a nutrition awareness function that ironically happened to be organised by the government, opposite Maidan hospital. The function was presided by the local MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy (Pulikeshinagar assembly constituency), and attended by various judges, ministers and government officials from the departments of Health and Women and Child Development.

Nawaz’ mother Naseema addressing the crowd at the nutrition awareness function. Pic: Movement for Basic Rights DJ Halli

Naseema spoke of her plight in losing her son due to the negligence at Maidan hospital. The MLA took cognisance of her complaint and directed the DHO to ensure that hospital functions properly and to take action against whichever staff were negligent. Some officials such as Savita, CHO, angered the local population by suggesting that parents were negligent in not taking their children to private hospitals. For a government health servant to say this is shocking, and belittles the very notion of public health care and government responsibility. In the case of Nawaz, the parents waited for two and a half hours for the government hospital to administer treatment, and finally left in exasperation to go to a private hospital.

In July 2013, it was 6-year-old Meghala, a malnourished child from DJ Halli who died after having contracted pneumonia compounded by malnutrition. At that time, similar promises were made by the state only to be broken; a new Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) was promised at DJ Halli. For a few months, the Maidan hospital had a board announcing the new NRC, but there were no signs of a functioning NRC inside! The CHO, Savita denied the existence of this board announcing the NRC, and several local residents promptly showed her photos of the board on their phones. Now the department has taken down the board and there are no signs of the NRC at all. A new one is being promised at KG Halli instead, and there are serious doubts, if it will indeed materialise. 

Other demands of the group also include:

  1. Immediately establish a functional Nutrition Rehabilitation Center in the DJ Halli area; if it is established in KG Halli instead, an ambulance should be available as a 24×7 service, for transporting residents from nearby areas as.
  2. The PHC at DJ Halli needs to be fully functional, with properly trained and paid personnel, medicine and equipment. There should be no further cases of staff insisting on extra money from potential patients or denying health services.
  3. Immediate action against the nurse Ms Shoba and suspension of Ms Savita for her callous statements denying the responsibility borne by public health services.
  4. The disability pensions that are owed to several people in DJ Halli continue to be unpaid. This should be rectified immediately. The disability survey should be completed and disability cards issued.
  5. Open the 40 new Anganwadi centers (AWC) promised after Meghala’s death
  6. As promised after Meghala’s death, AAY/BPL cards must be issued to all families with severely and acutely malnourished (SAM) children. 

Related Articles

Aged 6, weighing 12kg, she dies a quiet death
Two more kids aged 7, weighing 12 kg, found in D J Halli
14-year-old girl fills blind mother’s life with light, while her own stars remain bleak
When a disabled child is denied his rights…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Similar Story

Lok Sabha 2024: Know your MP – Gopal Shetty, Mumbai North

An established politician and a popular figure, MP Gopal Shetty has courted controversies as well as got people's support.

Name: Gopal Chinayya Shetty Constituency: Mumbai North Member of Parliament, Gopal Chinayya Shetty, 69 has been representing the area that falls under Mumbai North constituency in various capacities. First, he worked as a local corporator for three terms since 1992 and later, went on to become Mumbai’s deputy mayor. After that he rose to the state assembly from the Maharashtra legislative assembly from 2004 to 2014.  Since then, Shetty has been representing the Mumbai North constituency for two Parliamentary terms. In 2014, Shetty defeated Congress’ Sanjay Nirupam by polling in 70.1% of the voteshare by getting 6,64,004 votes as against…

Similar Story

Civic participation essential for effective BMC budget, say experts

In absence of elected representatives, holding the BMC accountable for planning and implementation of the budget is crucial.

A month after the BMC announced its budget for the fiscal year 2024-25, experts called for greater citizen participation in the planning and implementation of the budget. Not only is the BMC the richest civic body in the country, but also this year they have announced the highest budget ever at nearly Rs. 60,000 crore. Secondly, elections have not taken place after the term of the previous elected officials ended in March 2022. The Municipal Commissioner, appointed as the administrator, has been at the helm of the civic body's functioning for two years now. The corporation was put under an administrator…